Planning Statements
Statement Types
The type of statement required will depend on the nature of the proposal. Some projects require just a form and letter, whilst others will require one or more of the statements below.
It is important that the correct information is submitted first time to prevent the non-validation of your application.
We write and submit a variety of statements across a wide range of sectors, including: domestic, residential, commercial, retail, leisure and mixed use. Sometimes other reports are required to be submitted to support your application (for example, contamination reports, flood reports and tree surveys). We work with a range of trusted specialists and can recommend these if required giving a joined-up approach to submission.
Select a link below to learn more about the statements that we can help with.
Planning Statements
Planning Statements are similar to a Design and Access Statement but go further. They identify, assesses and justify the proposal in planning terms, including how the development accords with the relevant local and national planning policies.
Typically, it will comprise a justification of the technical aspects, including highways, trees, ecology, landscaping, planning policy, sustainability, and community involvement.
The Local Planning Authority will need to consider how the development accords to the relevant policies so a planning statement plays a huge part in your applications success. In particular, planning statements can be useful for changes of use applications, householder extensions, prior notification applications and lawful development certificates.
Design and Access Statements
A Design and Access Statement is a short document submitted to accompany a planning application. It allows applicants and their agents to explain the design and overall development. It also justifies whether the development is an appropriate and suitable response to the site and context.
You will need a Design and Access Statement for all major developments. It is also needed for schemes in Conservation Areas and World Heritage Sites as well as for Listed Building Consent. Sometimes it is beneficial to produce a Design and Access Statement for more complicated schemes to help explain how they are being developed, as well as the benefits to the site.
Hestia Planning have written hundreds of design and access statements for a wide range of schemes. They need to be clearly written and provide a high-quality justification for the planning application. They also need to be up-to-date with current planning policies.
The level of detail in a Design and Access Statement should be proportional to the complexity of the application. For relatively straightforward schemes they may only be a few paragraphs long.
Householder Planning Statement
These are specific statements for works to private homes.
House extension planning applications and home remodelling projects are often contentious and can be refused due to a lack of justification against the relevant local authority policies. Sometimes you may receive neighbour objections, in which case we can liaise directly or respond to the objection and work with the local planning authority to help resolve matters.
Many Local Planning Authorities have detailed supplementary planning guidance documents, Conservation Area Appraisals, and/ or Article 4 Direc-tives. These will relate to where your house is located and its type (i.e. Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Listed Buildings etc).
Heritage Statements
A Heritage Statement is required for applications or Listed Building Consent when proposals directly involve or affect the setting of a heritage asset. A Heritage Statement must specify the significance of any heritage asset affected, including any contribution made by their setting.
Hestia Planning have undertaken many heritage statements and successfully obtained consent – even for the most sensitive buildings and locations.
Please contact us if you are looking for advice or assistance.
Greenbelt Statements
These can often be very complex and difficult to achieve. Particularly as Local Planning Authorities are required to ensure that ‘substantial weight’ is given to any harm to the Greenbelt. By definition, any inappropriate development may be harmful.
We can advise on whether there is a possibility to justify that there are ‘very special circumstances’. These can be considered if these clearly outweigh any harm. Our Greenbelt Statements aim to justify proposals that would otherwise be unacceptable within the Greenbelt.
Planning Statement for Presentation to a Planning Committee
If an application is referred to a Planning Committee it will likely either have a recommendation for approval or refusal.
At these meetings, both applicants and interested parties will have the opportunity to make a short presentation to the committee members to either support or object to the application.
If you have had no professional planning assistance during the application process, or there are aspects of the committee report that either do not fully justify the scheme or contain inaccuracies, then having a planning consultant to read out a brief planning statement is the perfect opportunity to get your point across.
For objectors, a short planning statement is an opportunity to highlight any planning issues. Especially where the development does not accord with the development plan or is unacceptable with regards to other planning matters.
As time is very limited for such presentations, writing a succinct, powerful planning justification statement is crucial to enable the planning committee to understand the pertinent points.
Full Statement of Case for a Planning Appeal
Most appeals are undertaken via the ‘Written Representations’ route and as such, a Grounds of Appeal or ‘Full statement of Case’
Please see our planning appeals page for more information.
Health, Equality and Sustainability Statements
For larger schemes, the Local Planning Authority will sometimes want to see how your your proposal impacts on health within the local area, for example are there enough health services within the area to support your scheme? Will your proposal effect noise levels within the area which may impact on the heath of local residents?
The Local Planning Authority may also want to see how matters such as equality have been taken into consideration as part of your proposal. For example, have you considered access for wheelchair users?
Sustainability Appraisals are required to show that your proposal is sustainable and meets certain standards. The Local Planning Authority may want to see whether the materials you use are better for the environment or how you intend on minimising waste.
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